PRESERVATION DESIGN GUIDELINES PROJECT

A major ongoing project of CPHS is the creation of preservation design guidelines for Cleveland Park. The purpose of the guidelines is not to impose new rules, but to clarify what we are trying to preserve in Cleveland Park and to help everyone involved in the stewardship of the Cleveland Park Historic District to understand how individual properties contribute to the historic ensemble.

Why do we need guidelines? The general preservation guidelines covering all DC historic districts do not address many of the issues that arise in architecturally-eclectic Cleveland Park. Preservation design guidelines will describe in a clear, comprehensible format the architecture, open spaces, and streetscapes that are distinctive and significant in Cleveland Park. The guidelines will provide a point of reference for the bodies that are charged with reviewing projects in the historic district. We hope that any resident contemplating a change to a property in the Cleveland Park Historic District will be able to use the guidelines to determine how his or her house contributes to the district and how an alteration will affect the house’s original design and its surroundings.

As of the spring of 2016, members of the Guidelines Committee, who represent the CPHS Board and Architectural Review Committee, are working through drafts of the guidelines in consultation with Steve Calcott of the DC Historic Preservation Office. We expect to be ready to share the guidelines with the neighborhood later in 2016.